About Scrapbook Obsession

I am obsessed with scrapbooking and I know you are too! I think about it, talk about it, and do it any chance I get. I love to shop as much as I love to crop. My blog will have: product reviews, show reviews, scrapbook organization, my shopping finds, and just general scrapbook topics. There are so many scrap blogs out there where the author journals about their life and shares their pages. I wanted my blog to be a little different. Hope you enjoy!

Posts by Scrapbook Obsession:

HERE’s a link to What’s New at Michaels (DCWV Paper Stacks!), and a coupon.

Remember how I told you that HSN Scrapbooking is worth watching now? Well, it’s coming up again so try to watch and tell me what you think…September 9 at 6am, 2pm, and 6pm. These times are EST, so please adjust for your time zone.

So, I went to Michaels lastnight…just HAD to see if they had the BASIC GREY paper pads yet. The answer is a big fat NO. But they did have all paper pads on sale for 25% off, and an endcap full of other cool new paper pads. There was the glitter Christmas stack by Die Cuts with a View and matching mat stacks. Then a mess of new sets by Me and My Big Ideas (MAMBI). Only one of those tempted me, but I was able to restrain myself. All punches were 40% off so I did get THIS ribbon slot punch by Fiskars that I’ve been eyeing for a month or so.

Because I want to weave ribbon through it on cards and layouts. You can also weave paper through it…a very cool look. I couldn’t find any layout samples to show you…if anyone has used their Leave It To Weaver punch on a layout or card, please give me a linkee!

ETA 9-8-08: I put the call out to AMR girlz for photos of their projects using this punch and two of them came through! Here are some cards from mystery woman ~Q~:

And Jessica aka jessicamae shared this layout:

{Okay, back to the original post….}
I’ve never been a big ‘punch’ girl, but all these new border punches are sucking me into Punch Land. What else did I get? OH! Finally found the BAZZILL at my Mike’s and I felt kinda stupid because it could’ve been there for a while and I never noticed it. It was just in the regular cardstock paper rack area where they’ve had the Paper Outlet stuff forevah! But it finally dawned on to me to check there and, sho nuff, Bazzill!! I wasn’t crazy about the 79 cents per sheet price tag, but when I saw that Bazzill Bling was the same price as the regular I got mostly Bling, as my LSS sells it for $1/sheet.

At checkout, I noticed the employees were wearing their stunning new UNIFORMS. I said to the checker, “I see you’re wearing the new uniforms.” {Dead silence}. So I added in my best sarcastic tone, “You must be thrilled” and she said, “Yeah.” Again with the crickets. And that was that. I did notice that everyone was wearing their own version of black top, khaki-colored pants (or beige or brown or olive, whatever they were in the mood for that day apparently) but not the required official black polo and khakis that I’d heard it would be. Reminded me of Target, where yes, the employees wear a red top and beige pants…but they personalize it with a blue mohawk, a pierced cheek, and a raging right arm sleeve (tattoo). Which to me defeats the purpose of the whole ‘corporate unity’ look they were even going for…but that’s just me. Oh, how I long for the days when I could shop without having to stare at holes in people’s faces, discs in their stretched out earlobes, and other things that make me hurt just to look at. I know, I know…I’m old fashioned and need to get a grip, right? Bah!

First BAZZILL, and now this! Yep, I heard from my ever-reliable 2Peas girlz that Michaels is now carrying a limited stock of the new Basic Grey. You can read about it HERE. Apparently, they will carry paper pads of Urban Prairie and Granola. I’d say the majority of the gals who posted, especially those who love to support their LSS’s, were a bit dismayed at this development. Like, why should Michaels get the new BG before the LSS’s even have it? Why were LSS owners apparently NOT told at CHA that Michaels would have these 2 lines? Kelly Goree from Basic Grey responded like this:

“…I was just writing to let you know that out of our recent release, M’s is only going to be carrying the UP and Granola and only in paper packs. This is an exclusive to them item and can only be found in that format there. However, they will NOT be getting any of the collection packs, chipboard, brads, etc. that coordinate with these lines.

Please know that UP and Granola are both slated to ship very soon so all the goodies, complete with all the extras should be showing up in your LSS very soon.”

I’m not sure how I feel about it. I’ve always been a huge LSS supporter, but I shop at Mike’s a lot merely because that’s all I have access to where I live. We have no Joann’s or Archivers or Hobby Lobby. All my close-by LSS’s have closed; the remaining one is 45 minutes away and it’s hard to get there much. But when I do, I fully support them, LOL! So I’m torn. I’m excited that ANY Basic Grey is at Michaels {!!!!!!}. But I’m sad that LSS’s are getting it AFTER Michaels did and that they apparently weren’t told this would happen when they placed their CHA orders. Was the info purposely withheld? I dunno. But as you can read in the 2Peas post, it sure puts the LSS owners in an awkward and probably costly position. If “one of our own” (i.e. Basic Grey) can’t support our LSS’s, who will? Maybe big companies like BG see the writing on the wall…the demise of most LSS’s and only selling to BBS’s and online stores? I guess I’d rather have some BG somewhere, than have them go out of business because the few LSS’s that are left aren’t buying enough product to keep them afloat. Not blaming the LSS’s in ANY way…it’s just the economy, the downward trend, and what THEY can afford to stock right now.

So, Basic Grey at Mike’s…it’s a bittersweet thang, ain’t it? What are your thoughts on the issue?

I recorded two ‘shows’ today of HSN Scrapbooking and was in no hurry to watch them, as lately they’ve been kind of a bust. It’s been anything from sewing machines to Paperazzi, neither of which are on my shopping list. But after everyone settled in bed tonight, I sat down and watched the first hour and was impressed and surprised. They said all the items were new to HSN, although I had seen one of them before (btw, how can they lie like that? isn’t it false advertising of some kind?). But there were actually some rockin’ items. There were a few things by American Crafts including a paper and embellishment kit, and 2 choices of Slick Writers sets (glitter and metallic), but my favorite from AC was a Thickers set. For about $24 including shipping, you get 8 packages of chipboard Thickers, 4 alphas and 4 matching shape stickers. They were in basic colors like black, white, metallic gold and metallic silver. Around here, the Thickers alphas sell for $4 each and the shapes for $5, so the HSN deal is clearly a good one. HSN also offered the Pebbles Inc. Share and Tell system, and tons of Fancy Pants stuff…acrylic shapes and acrylic stamps. I haven’t watched the second hour yet, but I zipped through the preview at the beginning and it looked like many of the same items were re-run, plus some additional things by Fancy Pants. Again, just a pleasant surprise from HSN tonight and I thought you’d want to know, so you can add HSN Scrapbooking back into your Must See TV line-up.

I also watched Big Brother 10 and, wow, I feel so sorry for Ollie (or Ali, as Michelle calls him, LOL). I guess he was kind of silly to trust Dan completely…he should have been working some other angles in case Dan let him down. Then again, I can’t believe Dan swore on his girlfriend, his family, and the Catholic school he coaches at…and then went back on his word. That’s harsh, dude….

Well, I’m all packed for my last crop. Not that many people signed up (due to Labor Day Weekend?), so it’s not good financially because I have to pay a lot to rent the room {I’m going to see if I can sweet talk the manager, Vic, into lowering the price since my attendance is low…wish me luck}. But it will mean more scrapping time for me and I’m really looking forward to working on my School Days albums for the online class I’m taking. Hope you all have a lovely 3-day weekend and I’ll blog ya’ later…

Okay, I need you guys to help me with a decision and quick. In my last post, I talked about my need for several D-ring 12×12 scrapbooks. This is so, in the long run, I have enough room for all my kids’ School Days album pages and memorabilia packets. Heck, if these albums go well, I will probably also do one or two for my own school days, and one for DH (we don’t have that much of his school stuff). In the post, I stated how expensive those 3-ring albums are and that I plan on using 40% coupons on them one at a time until I get the albums I need. I want to buy them all soon, so the look of the albums stays consistent, kwim? So, KAY aka Kaydrenth was nice enough to post in the Comments that Borders currently has 12×12 D-ring albums on Clearance (is there a sweeter word in the English language?? I think not). I called my Borders and sure enough, they had 11 of them for $5.99 each. They will hold them for me for 24 hours (until tonight) but I’m not sure if I should go get them. With tax, that’s about $70 for 11 albums, which is a great deal. Normally, even with coupons, I could only get about 4 albums for that price and it would take 4 trips and 4 weeks to even get those. Eleven albums at $18 each with tax is about $212. Okay, now that I see the math, it makes sense…to me, LOL! But is that excessive, to go down and buy 11 albums from Borders?? What would you do? And tell me quick…I only have til tonight to decide. Well, they will probably still have the albums for a bit until someone else snatches them up. Luckily, I don’t think tons of scrapbookers hang out at Borders. But if the albums are on Clearance, Borders may take them off the shelves too. Anyways, what should I do?

I apologize that I haven’t been posting as regularly as I usually do. DH actually took a three-week vacay from work (unheard of!) and we’ve been gone a lot. I’ve done the whole ‘pack the entire house into 4 duffle bags’ and ‘unpack 4 duffle bags worth of laundry’ thang 3 times in the last 2 weeks. Not a lot of scrappin’ going on here unfortunately, but now I DO have tons of photos to work with this fall and winter when, baby, it’s cold outside.

So I think I’ll just blab a bit…random scrappy thoughts, if you will, since I have no fabulous topic in mind tonight. My online class began today, Back to Class with Trish Turay (for more info, see HERE…you can still sign up if you’re interested). All I got accomplished today was downloading the instructional PDF and some pre-done titles, quotes and journaling. I read through it all tonight and can’t wait to get started! Today, I went to the Big City (about 40 mins. from here) and did my once a month Costco-Barnes and Noble-Starbucks-Tuesday Morning-Dollar Tree-Michaels-LSS run. At the LSS, I picked up a few things for my Back to Class project…my first ever D-ring album, a 12×12, chocolate brown leather album by We R Memory Keepers (I got that brown one on the right).

I still hold fast to my need for postbound (converted to SNAPLOAD) albums for my everyday needs, but the D-ring will work great for the school albums, as layout continuity is not a must. I can’t get used to how BIG the D-ring album is. I also got a few packs of Generations Memorabilia Holders. I’ll use 1 holder per year per child to hold all the fun school stuff and photos that I don’t incorporate into layouts. Yes, these are going to be some big honkin’ momma albums by the time they reach 12th grade. I realize I’ll probably need 2 or 3 albums per child, so I’ll be using my next several 40% coupons to buy more albums. Those babies ain’t cheap! Anyhow, I also got a pack of 8.5 x 11 white cardstock from Mike’s, to use for journaling, titles and such. Now I’m debating whether to start working on the BTC project at home this week, or just pack it all up and take it to the crop I’m hosting this weekend.

Speaking of which…I’m holding my last crop this Friday and Saturday :( Since I’m going back to work full-time, I have to give up most of my Memory Works business which includes hosting crops. Which, among many other things about going to work full-time, also sucks rotten eggs. But I’m not bitter….really….

On my shopping marathon today, something kept becoming painfully obvious…scrapbooking is taking a downturn. Well, we all knew that…the economy or whatever…but it’s really not nice when it slaps you in the face at every turn. First of all, Costco had a big fat nuthin’ in the way of scrapbooking materials. What happened to the good old days of My Minds Eye mega stacks for $12.99, two-packs of leather albums for $12.99, and Heidi Swapp mega-embellishment packs? Gosh, I miss those days. Then at Michaels, I handed over my 40% off coupon that had been cut out of a single page flyer card instead of the old 4 to 6-page flyer. {On the plus side, I did find an awesome scrappin’ book that I’d been looking for}. Tuesday Morning, which used to provide me all kinds of jollies with their cheap scrapping goodies, was a wash. The scrap mag section at B&N has shrunk in size, with only about 4 magazines still offered (if you don’t count the digi-scrapping magazines, which I don’t…skadoosh!). After unloading Costco groceries, I looked forward to curling up for a while with my new issue of Memory Makers, but it’s so thin it only took about 30 minutes. So, yeah, a bit depressing…

I know everyone is busy with Back to School shenanigans, but the message boards have been kinda’ slow. Which is prolly good, because I have SO many other things I should be doing. So, off I go! I know I didn’t give you much to go on, but feel free to comment on anything scrap-related below. Any cool scrap shopping you’ve done lately? Your thoughts on thin scrap mags? Whatevs…

I think I’ve mentioned several times before that my mom is also a scrapbooker (thank GOD!). It’s been a wonderful hobby for us to enjoy together. She comes to crops with me, scraps with me at the dining table when she visits, supports me as a scrapbooking consultant by subscribing to my monthly kit, and is the only one in the family who understands that, Yes, I DID need to take 80 photos on our recent trip to San Francisco. I mean, she totally gets it all, you know?

Now, here is where we differ when it comes to scrapbooking. My mom scrapbooks 8 1/2 x 11, while I do 12×12. She has a very particular style, definite likes and dislikes when it comes to pattern and color. For instance, she doesn’t really “do” primary colors, busy happy patterns, or get too fancy with the thick embellishments. She prefers subtle colors and patterns. The only thing she is really gonzo for is brads (I call her Brad Queen). She doesn’t do mini albums, and she doesn’t do 12×12 papers or transparencies that can’t be cut down to 8.5 x 11. Also different than me, my mom doesn’t title her pages, nor does she journal (she says she will type tons of journaling after she gets all her photos scrapped, and insert the journaling in page protectors in her 3-ring scrapbooks…I’m so afraid something will happen to her or her books before she gets it all done and I’ll have 40 scrapbooks of hers with no journaling…hey, who are these people and what were they doing?? LOL). Anyhow, my dear mom also has more disposable income than I do, and she belongs to I think 1 or 2 other kits in addition to the one she gets from me. With all the kits, sometimes she likes what they include, some things she doesn’t care for.

Now me on the other hand, I like pretty much all products scrapbook-related. I refuse to discriminate…it just wouldn’t be fair or kind of me. In fact, I’ve never met a product I don’t like, LOL. Okay, truth told…I’m not a button fan and Hot Off the Press is not a fave. But other than that, I love it all and will use it all. All of this is to explain why my mom brought me THIS…

…the last time I saw her. She had purged her scrapbooking supplies and she GAVE me a crate of stuff she no longer wanted. See the Jenni Bowlin bingo card?What does it say? Oh, yeah…LUCKY! There’s a Maya Road star acrylic album, 7 Gypsies journaling cards, a Pinecone Press 6×6 clipboard, several embellies by My Minds Eye and, what you can’t tell from the picture, but there was a pizza box full of pattern paper and cardstock! And not pictured is the Ziploc bag full of chipboard pieces she gave me. Actually, she brings me something almost every time she visits but this was the biggest bonanza yet. So, I think you can see that when I say, ‘I love my mom!’, I really, truly mean it…from the bottom of my ever-scrappin’ heart, I do.

And I really appreciate it, because she is also E-Bay Queen and could easily sell all of her extra stuff for a mint…but she gives it to me instead. Awwww….

{Now, don’t be jealous girls and NO, she is not accepting adoption applications! One daughter is all she can handle. But nice try…}

Another scrapbooking mystery novel by Laura Childs is on it’s way! It’s due out September 2, 2008. I can’t wait! I love her books. If you haven’t already read them, Laura has a series of books where the main character is a scrapbook store owner in New Orleans. She always gets involved in some kind of whodunit and it’s always crazy fun. HERE is the link to the Laura Childs website if you’d like more info on her books. Definitely a quick, fun read!

I’ll leave you with a synopsis of Death Swatch and the teaser for her next book, Tragic Magic (both excerpts were copied over from the Laura Childs website):

DEATH SWATCH

Amid zydeco rhythms and popping champagne corks, scrapbook shop owner Carmela Bertrand and her friend Ava are partying in the French Quarter. It’s Mardi Gras, and they never imagined this might be the scene of a murder, but as the evening progresses, float designer Archie Baudier is found dead on the balcony–strangled with a barbed wire garrote. The only thing wilder than this crime are the theories about who did it–from a ritualistic slaying to a mob hit to the outlandish work of a rival Mardi Gras float builder. As Carmela flirts with handsome detective Edgar Babcock, she also ponders the odd clues; gold paint on the victim’s shoes, a ransacked apartment, and a glimmering gold doubloon.

TRAGIC MAGIC
Coming in Fall 2009

Design-wise Carmela Bertrand of Memory Mine scrapbook store is tapped to create spooky set decorations for Medusa Manor, a new haunted house attraction in New Orleans. But a flaming body hurled from the third-floor tower might just put a damper on the project.

Gosh, I steal…ahem, appropriate…so many ideas from NICOLE, I should pay her a commission, yeah? But she posted this fun game on the AMR CHIT CHAT Board today…here is the LINK to that thread.

Anyway, here’s how to play…You Google your first name + needs and then list the top 10 returns you get. Here are my results:

1. Erika needs a lot of attention and care (a foster child listing)
2. Erika needs this sign (Any Display of Acrobatic or Hazardous Activities are Prohibited on This Property)
3. Erika needs to go (Big Brother 7)
4. Erika needs to start acting like she is in her fifties!!! (from All My Children message board)
5. Erika needs coffee (boy, does she!)
6. Erika needs to speak to Will (BB 7 again)
7. What Erika needs now. I need business owners who care about the image and future growth of their company.
8. Erika needs a loan so that she can buy the various tools necessary for her work (Erika is a Peruvian woman listed on a ‘needs loan’ website)
9. Hot New Singer ERIKA needs your support Sunday at Jenkinson’s.
10. Erika needs to determine what she needs from the board.

The first hit was actually this blog post from 2005…how funny!

1. erika needs to eat a steak sandwich while doing sit-ups
2. erika needs her rest in order to be ready for the Ball.
3. erika needs coffee (true that)
4. erika needs to have research herself on Prometrium when she is talking to the doctor.
5. erika needs 2 shut up her fat a**…..(hmmm….THAT is not nice….)
6. erika needs devine healing
7. erika needs to have her own stamps to mail the letters.
8. erika needs to sing and work and be clean.
9. Walter, in all his youthful naivety, thinks that he will conquer the iron maiden’s heart by wooing her, which is in fact the last thing erika needs.
10. erika needs to learn how to open up and trust again.

I don’t usually explore the internet outside of my little Scrapbooking Safety Zone, so it was interesting for me to see all the crazy stuff out there. One thing that is glaringly obvious…there are too many teenagers with MySpace pages and too much time on their hands making bad videos of themselves lip synching to songs. I mean, do their friends actually watch them or is it a total vanity project? And, yowzers, where are their parents?? I’ve seen way too many YouTubes where the young ladies’ name and city are in bold print. Please, little girls, be careful! Okay, teenager rant over….

Go over to Google and see what YOU need! Feel free to post your top 10 in Comments, or link to your blog. I’d love to see how yours comes out…

Since junior high, I’ve been a fee-YOU-jus fan of the rock back Journey. My fellow message boarders know this as my MB name is always Journeyfan, and I frequently annoy them with references to my passion for all things Journey and Steve Perry.

So first, may I just share one little photo from my recent trip to San Francisco…via the Hard Rock Cafe at Pier 39….I give you….a Journey guitar.

Is it wrong that I wanted to climb up there and steal that puppy? Guess it was lucky there was a family with children seated below this fine display or who knows what would’ve happened.

And as I was just lurking over at 2peas, I came upon this siggie line I just had to show ya…it belongs to Theresa aka Scrap Wench. I don’t know anything about this girl, but I love her!

Journey without Steve Perry is like s3x without a p3nis. It can be done, but I don’t recommend it.

Is that funny or what??

Okay, I’m done. Back to scrappy stuff. Did ya’ hear about the scrapbook clearance at Target?!?!?!

I was there this afternoon and saw a bunch of empty pegs, which I’m hoping means some new goodies are coming from the recent CHA. The remaining pegs had about half of the stuff with those bright orange tags I love to see….CLEARANCE! I picked up and put down the MM Noteworthy theme set, and the Cloud 9 Design dog theme set. Finally settled on some KI Memories Pop Culture…you know, the stuff I coveted HERE and walked away from HERE. So, I got the Specialty Paper Pack for $7 (reg. $10), 200 pc. Value Pack of brads for $2.78 (reg. $4), and Alphabet Soup in Spicy Taco for $5 (reg. $7). Here’s a LINK to the Pop Culture line if your trying to decide if you need some…

The Dollar Spot also had a lot of stuff 75% off, although my store had only, like, 3 boxes of ribbons left and a lonely pink chipboard alpha. It’s finally gotten to where I can pass on most of that stuff because, yeah, it’s only a dollar…but the quality reflects that.

I see in the comments section of a past post, and in THIS post on her blog, that a dear internet friend has given me this award. Her name is PATTI aka PattiMartin aka Patti’s Passion. I’m so grateful to receive awards like this. They do nothing to damage the ego, I tell ya. What they really do is remind me that I have made some really nice and generous friends through this blog and through my favorite message boards, AMR and CKMB.

Patti, I hope you don’t mind, but since I just handed out 7 awards {of another kind} recently, I’m going to just gratefully accept this one and then, I’m going to tell everyone about YOU. Okay, Everyone, here’s about Patti. She is one of THE most kindest persons I’ve ever ‘met.’ I consider her the Welcome Wagon lady of AMR (do you younger homies out there even know what a Welcome Wagon is??}. Every time we get a new member over there {and we just hit 500 members…yeah!}, Patti takes the time to post a welcome message, telling them all about the kit, the nice ladies, the Flickr gallery, etc. Her ‘Stacey Name’ is ‘Sweetest AMR Cheerleader,’ if that tells you anything. Patti is generous with her time and with RAK’s. She truly cares about everyone on the board and we all look up to her. Not to mention, she is a fabulously talented scrapper. So I hope you’ll add her blog to your list of Must Reads and, if you haven’t already, come join us on the AMR MESSAGE BOARD. I guarantee…you’ll get a welcome from Miss Patti herself!

She posted a comment closest to the time my blog rolled 200,000 hits. She also wins the (unofficial) award for trying the hardest, LOL! She left a total of 9 comments. So let’s give her a big hand! Heidi, I’ll e-mail you for your addie and send you out a little giftie.

Read about the rumor HERE and HERE. The only comment I have so far, without personally seeing the HSN ad on the CK site, is that maybe CK doesn’t control and/or monitor specific ads that flash on their site. For instance, if you allow ads on your free website, blog or message board, my understanding is you can request that they pertain to a certain topic (in this case, crafts or scrapbooking) but you, the site owner, don’t get to approve the ads on a case by case basis. I assume ad placement is done by computers not humans, who wouldn’t know that it would be a big NO NO to put an HSN ad on the CK website…because it might start a rumor or sumthin’…

What do you think…could the rumor be true, and would you be glad or sad?

Hey there, Hi there, Ho there! Well, it looks like I’m going to turn the meter on 200,000 blog views soon! Unfortunately, it will probably happen during the next few days when I’m not blogging. No, I’m not going to Beverly Hills for my plastic surgery touch up (again!). No, I’m not going to Bejing to see the Olympics in person (shoot, with both the Hamm brothers out of gymnastics, what would be the point?). I will be “busy”, that’s all you need to know…

But we’re going to have a little RAK here to celebrate. Here’s how to play. Leave a comment or comments on any post at Scrapbook Obsession (no limit). Whoever posts the last comment before I reach 200,000 views wins! I’ll be able to look at my Dashboard and Blog Stats to determine the winner. I probably can’t notify you until I’m online again so stay tuned. I’ll send you a little scrappy prize; make sure to leave some contact info like a link to your blog so I can find you afterwards or check back here later to see if you won.

Okay, I’m removing my Blog Stats counter from my sidebar, but as of the publishing of this post, it stands at……..198,678.

If you haven’t already joined the Message Board at All Moments Remembered, do so HERE because they’re having another fun crop tomorrow (Sat. 8-9-08) and you don’t want to miss it, do you????

I am SO stinkin’ excited! I just signed up for my first online scrapbooking course. Well, okay, I confess, I once signed up for a free one at Stacey Julian’s BIG PICTURE SCRAPBOOKING. But it was free and I was too busy, so I failed to participate. THIS time, I mean business! Because 1. I paid $20 of my hard-earned cash, and 2. I really really really need to complete this project: my kids’ School Days albums. So, here is the class I just registered for…it runs AUGUST 25 through SEPTEMBER 14, 2008 (3 weeks):

She’s all about getting your pictures in scrapbooks. From what I’ve seen online so far, Debbie’s book and classes seem to help you do just that. I’m one of those that has been gathering the supplies for this type of album but haven’t followed through on actually com-PLEET-ing any. I have all the school shizzle: Report cards? Check. School and class photos? Check. Art and writing projects? Check. I just need one cool place to put it all. Sure, I’ve scrapped random school events and they’re mixed in with our annual family albums. But I’ve purposely NOT scrapped school photos and such because I knew I wanted to create an album like this someday. Well, baby, “someday” is here! Wahooooo! I can’t wait to get started.

Is that the cutest?? I asked Stacey if she can get it in the AMR store and she said, sure, but she needs a couple weeks heads up. Anyhow, I think this is the line Trish uses to complete the project but she said you don’t need any particular line, you can use whatever you want to buy or have already been collecting. I have various school embellies, and recently bought the Autumn Leaves Back to School Collection at Target. It’s a paper pad with matching die cut shapes and an alphabet. I’m sure it will be more than enough once I supplement with cardstock and either Thickers or letters cut with my Cricut.

But the KI Memories school line is called my name. Will you please tell it to Shut the Hell Up??? Crap. I only have so much money, you know? Quit tempting me…I mean it! {Yeah, right….}

To flashback a bit….I tried to get some copies of that darn Becky Higgins School Days Kit awhile back but don’t get me started on how the (I say loosely) “customer service” at CK Media completely farkled that up. I was pretty ticked for awhile and didn’t even want to think about how I was going to complete school albums on my own. I dunno, I just feel like a need a guideline to follow, someone holding my hand and saying, ‘C’mon, just put this photo here, and that report card there, and before you know it, you’re done.’ I don’t want to overthink it. I want it simple but cohesive. I want it easily duplicated so I can make a copy for each kid. Heck, if it comes out cute, I’ll do my OWN school days album the same way. Yeah, unfortunately, my dear mother didn’t start scrapbooking until I was growed up with chiclets of my own. So my own school pictures and awards and such are in a box here somewhere. I don’t think we have enough of DH’s stuff to do an album for him, but I could ask the MIL and see if she’s got more school items of his.

Anyway, I heard about this class ~ everybody now! ~ “at AMR.” My scrap bud, ANNE MARIE, did a post about it because she’s on their e-mail list and was notified of this new class. I’m trying to recruit some other AMR girlz to take it with me, but no takers so far. I would feel more at home over at Get It Scrapped on the MB and such if there were some familiar faces. Debbie even said she’ll add blinkies in our siggies if a bunch of us come over from the same place. So we could spread the AMR love…

Disclaimer: As always, what I say here at S.O. is my own pure opinion from my own pure (ahem, cough!) heart. I’m in no way affiliated with Get It Scrapped or it’s subsidiaries. I did not receive any kind of payment or gift for this endorsement. Thank you.

No matter where you hail from in scrapbook world, I hope you’ll come take a look at the Back to Class….um, class. And maybe even join in with me. C’mon, you know you want to…

1. Has a wonderful and hilarious blog about her family life called HUMOR ME and I laugh so hard when I read her stuff that Diet Coke shoots out my nose. I told the girls on AMR MB that this girl should write a sitcom about her life and they all agreed.

2. Is SO generous with the RAK’s she constantly gives away, for the sole purpose of brightening someone’s day. Like, these showed up in my mailbox today…a card and ATC, just because every time she saw the “journey” stamps, she thought of me {my MB name is ‘journeyfan’ and maybe perhaps I go on a bit about Journey and Steve Perry sometimes}…

I don’t have a crystal ball, and haven’t consulted JOHN EDWARD on this, but here is my prediction: PINK PAISLEE will be the next BASIC GREY of the scrapbook world. Yep, they are THAT good. I mean, just check out this yummy goodness on their home page:

Um, well, okay. Blogger girl foiled again! This is where I went and right clicked on the cool images on their home page, only to be told “Sorry, right-click is disabled. You are welcome to use our images, but we prefer you to use the right ones; Simply click the link for retailer resource page at the bottom of the page under Retailer Lounge.” Which I did HERE, and found a PDF file to click on for product images. Well, tell ya what, if the .pdf file is done downloading by the time I finish writing this, I’ll include their images. If not, sorry Charlie, your loss! {Can you tell this is a pet peeve of mine. Sheesh! I was really liking these Paislee girls until now….}. But a cool thing I did find on that page was a list of coordinating cardstock for their lines. Nice! Nice for the retailer, nice for the shopper.

So! Well, I was going to directly link you to their BLOG and their PRODUCT page and such like I usually do with products I like. But now I’m kind of pissed, so I’ll let you explore on your own if you like. Can you see the tee shirt I’m wearing? It says, “I don’t get mad, I get even.” Yeah, right, I know they don’t care about us bloggers but I’d say we DO send a little bitta biz their way, wouldn’t you? Wish these companies realized that and were a bit more ‘blog friendly.’ Maybe I’ll go write my Congressman….

Well, I still do love their products and think they’ll be taking over the industry. Their new lines are: Vintage Moon, Pop Fashion, Office Lingo, and Spring Fling. Wish I knew how to use THESE cool desktop calendars cuz theirs rock! Stacey at AMR has been teasing us with PP on her blog HERE, HERE and HERE. {While you’re there, check out THIS post about the new Jenni Bowlin…I have a BIG jones for anything Jenni}. HERE’s the store if you want to shop!

PS: That dang PDF product image file is STILL downloading, so no product pictures to share with ya’ here, but click on those links to Stacey’s blog, she has plenty {she must be gads more patient than me, LOL!}

With me, Autumn Leaves can do no wrong with their stamps. I pretty much love them all. I haven’t had time to scrap with them yet, but I played around a bit this morning and stamped them out so you can see what they look like. I did the circle one with and without the journaling lines…the possibilities with that stamp and the scallop rectangle seem endless! I gotta say, the swirlie one that I stamped in green isn’t a fave. But, hey, at about one buck a stamp, I won’t cry too much if it never gets used.

I stamped them on white so you could see them best, but I plan to use them on lots of yummy colored paper. The thought of all the color combos I can make with my papers and chalk inks has me feeling all bubbly inside…hee! {Yep, it’s a sickness…}.

Speaking of scrapping diseases, the Fiskars Threading Water Punch malady seems to have hit everyone is scrap world….you know, I must have one or I will DIE! So if you still need one, Stacey at AMR has them in stock HERE.

She also has something I want need very badly…this Maya Road Calendar Turns stamp set. I love how you can spin it and change it, then stamp and circle the date. Kewl! You can pre-order it HERE.

What do you think of these products, or any other new ones you’re seeing around?

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